Kerr innovator to lead N.C. pharmacy board

RALEIGH, N.C. —Rebecca Chater, one of community pharmacy’s leading clinical-care innovators, has been elected president of the North Carolina board of pharmacy for 2010-2011.

Chater is EVP of Kerr Health—the company recently renamed itself to reflect its complete offering; Kerr Drug remains the name of its retail stores—and as such is one of the architects of many ground-breaking patient-care initiatives at the North Carolina retail drug innovator, directing the Care Management service line—previously known as KDI Health Solutions—a healthcare provider organization specializing in preventive and chronic care services.

Chater is in her second five-year term on the board and assumed the role of president for the second time. “It is an honor to serve in this capacity,” she said. “With some measure of national healthcare-reform legislation imminent, it is imperative we, as pharmacists, continue to assume an ever-increasing role in upholding and protecting public safety.”

“In leading the development of clinical pharmacy services within Kerr Drug, Chater earned recognition for Kerr as 2006 Pinnacle Award recipient by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation; 2007, 2008 and 2009 National Medication Therapy Management Provider of the Year by Outcomes Pharmaceutical Health Care; [and] 2008 North Carolina Provider of the Year by the American Diabetes Association,” Kerr stated.

Chater has been recognized nationally for her professional leadership as a past trustee and fellow of the APhA, past recipient of that group’s Gloria Niemeyer Francke Leadership Mentor Award and the APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management Administrative Practice Award. Most recently, she was tapped for the 2008 Eagle Award by the North Carolina Alliance of Healthy Communities.

Novartis reported an 11% increase in net sales, to $11.7 billion, compared with $10.5 billion in second quarter 2009, while profits grew by 19%, to $2.4 billion, compared with $2 billion the year before.

The company’s major products mostly saw increases in sales; the cancer drug Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) had sales of $1 billion, compared with $990 million in second quarter 2009, while sales of the once-yearly osteoporosis treatment Reclast (zoledronic acid) increased from $115 million to $142 million.

Sandoz, the drug maker’s generics division, had an 11% sales increase, to $1.9 billion, compared with $1.7 billion in second quarter 2009.

Domann joining Kerr Health: Another sign of sweeping changes

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Rounding out its Kerr Health management team, Kerr Drug has gone beyond its own deep bench of retail-oriented players.

(THE NEWS: Domann named Kerr Health’s VP sales and business. For the full story, click here)

For the past year, the company, which dominates drug store retailing in its home state of North Carolina, has been fine-tuning a new pharmacy-care business model aimed at employers and built on its solid foundation as a pharmacy and healthcare innovator. So it’s no surprise that Kerr turned to a highly experienced pharmaceutical industry veteran to head up sales and new-business efforts for the fast-growing health-services operation.

That choice is Dick Domann, an affable, 30-year drug industry veteran who forged a successful, 27-year drug-channel sales career with GlaxoSmithKline. As such, he’s forged close ties with retail pharmacy and is intimately familiar with its concerns, capabilities and potential as a patient-centered solution to America’s healthcare woes. As Kerr Health’s first VP sales and business, Domann brings a broad perspective in pharmaceutical marketing, managed care and government relations to Kerr, which is working to burnish its credibility with employer-based health plans in North Carolina and elsewhere.

Domann also is no stranger to Kerr’s operating region. Since 1987, he’s called North Carolina home –– GSK is based in the state’s famed Research Triangle district near Duke University, the University of North Carolina and other centers of learning and medical practice –– and he’s been active in local community, business and political organizations for many years. He’s also a fledgling novelist, having authored and published one novel, with another on the way.

Domann’s induction is another sign of the sweeping changes ongoing at Kerr, which has firmly established its bona fides as one of retail pharmacy’s best healthcare innovators. Kerr Health, the health-services division of Kerr Drug, encompasses a wide gamut of pharmacy-based patient services – including disease management, medication therapy management, employer-based inoculation and clinical-care services, long-term care and specialty pharmacy.

Much like Walgreens, Kerr is focused on expanding the range of clinical and pharmacy services it can provide to employer-sponsored health plans and managed care organizations. It bills its vision for patient health as “holistic” in terms of its view of the patient, and positions its services as an adjunct to the care provided by time-stressed physicians and community health centers.

“Kerr Health synergistically unites Kerr Health Care Services and KDI Health Solutions, two subsidiaries of Kerr Drug, Inc., one of the nation’s leading and most respected names in the chain drug industry,” the company notes in a description of its offerings. “Kerr Health provides a broad and customizable offering of value-driven products and services to medical practices, patients, employer groups, long-term care facilities, and municipalities.”

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